At this point we both owned yachts separately and gradually moved to sailing on the larger of the two, a Bavaria 32 called Saltire. We sailed her out of Gosport for a number of years and did all the usual haunts around the Solent at weekends, going further along and across the Channel as time allowed during our vacations. We always had an itch to take her further afield but time was against us. One year we got as far as planning a round Britain trip and were a couple of weeks away from casting off when we had to cancel due to a family illness. So once again we returned to our favourite haunts and our Channel crossings but were always thinking about the bigger trips of the future. There are many sailors who will happily sail from the same base for years and years and take great pleasure in knowing the waters inside out. We did this for many years. However, Kate and I also share a desire to make some longer passages as and when time allows and have been trying to build our knowledge and confidence in preparation for casting off in the future.
Not long after our floating holiday in Gibraltar we stepped on board an OVNI at the London boat show and were curious about the design and concept. The more we got to know these boats the more we were sure this was the next boat for us. After a test sail with Charlie Tait (
www.charliesailing.co.uk) aboard his OVNI 385, Jemima, we were completely hooked. The OVNI is a strong aluminium build with a lifting centreboard. This makes her extremely versatile - sometimes described as the Land Rover of the sea. They have a reputation for being serious passage makers but are just as happy using their shallow draft freedom to sit in a shallow creek or lie on a beach. It was another few years before we took the plunge and bought Barracuda - an OVNI 395 - from North Sea Maritime (
www.northseamaritime.com), the UK agents. Stephen Johnson at North Sea Maritime could not have been more helpful in getting us up the learning curve with Barracuda, and we found ourselves part of a great community of OVNI-owners.